Hebrews 4:12,13 Homiletics
As a choir, we at the Virgin Mary's Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, meet every Friday to study the life-granting word of God, called Holy Writ by scholars and more colloquially known as The Bible. The past four weeks have been particularly eye-opening, because we are studying that masterpiece whose authorship seems to always be the talk of the town. I am talking about the letter to the Hebrews.
I have heard many explanations of who possibly wrote it, and I don't think these explanations ultimately matter. I'm inclined to believe a disciple, spiritual son, of Paul the Prisoner of Christ Jesus wrote the letter. Glory be to the Holy Spirit, the guide of historical happenstance, I too have been blessed in being Paul's son, and thus a son of the Son of God Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with who we have to do. (Heb 4:12,13 RSV)
What is the word of God? Above, I said it is Scripture, Holy Writ, The Bible. Who is the word of God? According to John the Evangelist, Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Word of God, and thus God. Scripture is shown to be alive when peoples across the globe publicly read it, and obey its instructions. Jesus is the origin of the NT and thus the origin of these instructions that teach us how to love everyone fully.
I first learned what a two-edged sword was from a samurai anime called Rurouni Kenshin. The main character, formerly known as Batosai (the man-slaughterer), became sick of killing the masses. His resolution was to limit his fighting abilities by using a sword that has the potential to damage him whenever he swings it at others. A more modern example would be a shotgun, or indeed any hand-held weapon with recoiling power that can dislocate your shoulder as you fire at others. Scripture and Jesus are like this. If you quote a verse that calls people accursed or anathema, be careful that you are not the very person the verse is speaking of, because most likely, you are. The only superhero in the biblical literature is God, and you are His archnemesis. Repent by confessing and stopping your sin, if you want mercy. If you say you work for Jesus, but your actions say otherwise, He has already warned you that not everyone who says to him "Lord, Lord" will walk through the gates of the kingdom (Matthew 7:21-23).
This letter was written to Christian communities who claimed descent from the fleshly line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, it is applicable to all generations unto the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. Even learned men argue about the differences betwixt soul and spirit. Joints and marrow may be more colloquially, but maybe too colloquially, translated as "Jesus can pierce white from rice".
Jesus the moral teacher is easy for the sons of secular humanism and the sons of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to swallow. Jesus the fleshly insurrectionist is easy for Reza Aslan to swallow. Jesus the fictional character and not-real-person is easy for some "scholars" to swallow. Jesus the granter of mansions is easy for lovers of money, who have ears to hear the false teachers of the prosperity gospel to swallow. Jesus the nice God-guy who loves everyone "no matter what" is easy for most Christians to swallow. But, nobody likes Jesus the Judge.
Later in Hebrews 10:12 we learn
but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God
The right hand of God is the seat of judgment over the living and the dead. Imagine a megaphone wielder shouts through a megaphone into your ear. Our sinful thoughts are LOUDER than this to God. To be lustful is to be an adulterer, and to be angry is to be a murderer. God hears it all, loudly and clearly. When He comes to judge the living and the dead, He will grant either death or life. He is neither Krampus nor Santa Claus, but He most assuredly knows if you've been naughty or nice.
When people see a cop car on the side of the street or a camera that is watching them, they act differently. The fear of being watched elicits improved behavior. Just ask 18th Century philosopher (lover of wisdom) Jeremy Bentham and The Panopticon. Or read Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish.
If we know this, how much more closely does the eye of God watch us, and our deepest and innermost sinful thoughts?
Furthermore, we must love each other.